MAKING A SPLASH

It was 1977, two days before Northeast High School's Red and Black Game to end spring practice, when coach Chip Shealy called his team into the field house. The news wasn't good.

Jack Mularkey, the father of quarterback Mike Mularkey, had died of lung cancer at 53. Mularkey was crushed, but he still played in the game. Things didn't get any better. Mularkey broke his right collarbone.

"He came home," his mother, Darlene, remembers, "and he said, 'Mom, it's all coming apart. I don't know what is going to happen next.'"

Mularkey, 42, has been gradually putting back together what came apart in the spring of 1977, and last week the Fort Lauderdale native added the final piece. After 10 years as an NFL assistant, he was named coach of the Buffalo Bills. He received a five-year contract, unusual for a first-time head coach, estimated at $1.5 million a year.

"I told [President and General Manager] Tom [Donahoe], 'You can break into my bank account, you can get into my garage, and you can do a lot of things because Super Bowl has been my password for a long time,'" Mularkey said. "You have to set goals, and the Super Bowl is the goal. I don't want to predict playoffs because I'm setting us up for failure, which I don't want to do."

Three years ago, Mularkey interviewed for the Tampa Bay job. His name also came up when Florida was looking to replace Steve Spurrier. Last year, he turned down the Cincinnati job. Atlanta and Oakland had interest in him this year.

"The Bills have shown a commitment [with a five-year contract], but it wasn't a requirement," Mularkey said. "You do some things by feel, and I feel like I am in the right place."

Perry Egelsky, who blocked for Mularkey as a tackle in high school, has remained one of his close friends. They exchange e-mails on Mondays after games.

"It's hard to believe," said Egelsky, a former Stranahan coach and now an assistant at Plantation. "It seems like yesterday that we were two kids hanging out on the beach, cruising the strip and playing football."

Mularkey's mother isn't surprised where her son ended up.

"I know that Jack has been guiding Michael," Darlene said. "Michael has been working toward this for a long time. He knew what he wanted. He has worked hard, and he is ready."

Mularkey went to Florida on the promise that he could play quarter-back, but he was converted to tight end on his second day. It made sense because he was 6 feet 4, 225 pounds with huge hands. He shared playing time with Chris Faulkner.

San Francisco cut Mularkey, a ninth-round draft choice. He played for Minnesota (1983-88) and Pittsburgh (1989-91). He was an assistant coach at Concordia College (1993) before moving to Tampa Bay (1994-1995). In 1996, Donahoe hired him to coach tight ends for the Steelers. In 2001, he was promoted to offensive coordinator.

"I had an inkling that I wanted to coach from the start," Mularkey said, "but I got serious about it in college. I kept game plans and everything else. I was a software marketing rep for IBM because I couldn't get into the NFL as a coach.

"Tampa Bay called and wanted to know if I was going to the Senior Bowl. I went down there and introduced myself to everybody that I could. I ran into [Tampa Bay coach] Sam [Wyche], and he asked me if I was interested in being the quality control coach. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I said yes. I'm glad that I did."

Mularkey began to prepare for coaching when he and Egelsky were the only freshmen to go through two-a-day practices with the Northeast varsity in 1976.

"One day between practices after coach [Mickey] Yasko had about killed us," Egelsky said, "we looked at each other and said, 'What in the hell are we doing out here?'"

Mularkey knows the answer now.

"We were building character," he said. "The kind of character that it takes to survive two-a-day practices as a freshman. The kind of character that it takes to survive in football as a player or a coach."

There were also times when he and Egelsky sprawled on the floor of the field house and watched game films.

"On Saturdays, I had players watch Friday's game film at my house," Shealy said. "We called them The Saturday Funnies. Mike and Perry would always be there. With Mike, what you saw was what you got.

"After their senior season, I went to scout a Frostproof-Mulberry game for Pine Crest, and I took them with me. After a quarter, Mike was able to tell me what both teams were doing. It was a pretty good sign of what was ahead for him."

In 1977, Mularkey got a bright orange Chevy Blazer, but he treated it as if it were a Mercedes.

"He was meticulous about it," Egelsky said. "He washed it almost every day. He could have lived in it. He was organized to a tee and attentive to every detail [on] the Blazer. I should have known then that he was going to coach."

In Pittsburgh, Mularkey played for Chuck Noll. In Minnesota, it was Bud Grant. San Francisco's Bill Walsh drafted him. As a coach, he worked for Wyche and Bill Cowher.

"I took things from Bill [Walsh], Bud and Chuck," Mularkey said. "They commanded respect. They knew when to push the right button. Their styles were different than some guys today, but they were successful because of it."

In two of three seasons he was Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator, the Steelers' offense was among the NFL's top five. Kordell Stewart had a career year in 2001 when he threw for 3,109 yards. Tommy Maddox did the same thing in 2003 when he threw for 3,414 yards.

In Buffalo, Mularkey inherits the NFL's 30th-ranked offense. The Bills' offense scored only 243 points, the second-fewest in a 16-game season They went seven games without a touchdown. Quarterback Drew Bledsoe threw for 2,860 yards but had only 11 touchdown passes.

"I don't think Drew is broken," Mularkey said. "Not at all. We'll do some things with the scheme to help him. I think you can win with Drew.

"My philosophy is to control the ball, rest the defense and have a good conversion percentage in the red zone. I'm not a yeller or a screamer unless I have to be. I try to find a positive in every negative."

Mularkey understands the AFC East. New England beat the Steelers 24-17 in the AFC Championship Game on the way to winning the Super Bowl in 2001. Although he grew up in South Florida and went to an occasional Dolphins game, he was never a fan, but he knows the team's history and tradition. He also understands Buffalo's intrastate rivalry with the New York Jets.

"He is a perfect fit for Buffalo," Egelsky said. "He is a blue-collar guy for a blue-collar town. The thing about him that you never forget is his competitiveness. I don't care whether it was football, basketball, cards or pool. He wanted to win, or he wanted to keep playing until he did. That's the mentality a coach has to have."